Breakfast Topic: Cataclysmic information
by Anne Stickney 
Jun 15th 2010 at 8:00AM
The new Cataclysm information revealed this weekend has a lot of people talking -- some think the changes are good, some think they're bad. As for me, I'm just excited to see more information, whatever that information may be. It's a reminder that the next expansion isn't very far away, and I'm looking forward to it. I have to say while I'm somewhat sad about the removal of Path of the Titans, I'm okay with them adding the content to the existing inscription profession and giving that an overhaul; inscription was always sort of a boring profession to me anyway.
The part that really gets me excited though is the lore stuff. I love stories, I love Warcraft's story, and hearing that Archaeology not only is staying, but it's being transformed into a new type of story vehicle for lore makes me terribly happy. On top of that we're getting Caverns of Time: War of the Ancients, something that I've been wanting to see for a very, very long time. And then we've got Cho'gall, who I never really expected to see again -- does this mean we'll see Garona, or Med'an, or any of the other characters from the latter half of the Warcraft comic run? I don't know, but it's the not knowing that's what makes it fun for me. I tend to keep an open mind with information like this, since Cataclysm is still in the alpha stage of testing. Having done beta with all three versions of World of Warcraft, if there's one thing I've learned it's that nothing is set in stone until you buy the game. And heck even then you may not see everything right away, there's usually plenty of patches with new content to play through.
So what did everyone else think of the changes announced? Did you like them, did you hate them, or are you more of a "wait and see" when it comes to Cataclysm info? What got you really excited, be it the good kind of excited, or the bad?
The part that really gets me excited though is the lore stuff. I love stories, I love Warcraft's story, and hearing that Archaeology not only is staying, but it's being transformed into a new type of story vehicle for lore makes me terribly happy. On top of that we're getting Caverns of Time: War of the Ancients, something that I've been wanting to see for a very, very long time. And then we've got Cho'gall, who I never really expected to see again -- does this mean we'll see Garona, or Med'an, or any of the other characters from the latter half of the Warcraft comic run? I don't know, but it's the not knowing that's what makes it fun for me. I tend to keep an open mind with information like this, since Cataclysm is still in the alpha stage of testing. Having done beta with all three versions of World of Warcraft, if there's one thing I've learned it's that nothing is set in stone until you buy the game. And heck even then you may not see everything right away, there's usually plenty of patches with new content to play through.
So what did everyone else think of the changes announced? Did you like them, did you hate them, or are you more of a "wait and see" when it comes to Cataclysm info? What got you really excited, be it the good kind of excited, or the bad?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Kylenne Jun 15th 2010 8:06AM
I'm ridiculously excited about Cot: War of the Ancients myself, especially if we get to see Sargeras, Azshara, etc. I'm probably most excited about the possibility of a pre-Skull!Illidan turning up, though.
I'm just terrified it's going to turn into some bullshit Rhonin-esque Suefest. I have no desire to go back in time to see that tool, unless it's to strangle him in his crib.
alurius Jun 15th 2010 8:29AM
I'm not going to lie, when I read "CoT: War of the Ancients" I was happier than a 5 year old in an ice cream parlor. And.. I rather hope they follow the timeline with Rhonin, Korialstrasz, and Broxigar. I mean, I'll deal with Rhonin as long as I get to see Brox in action, that is one orc that almost makes me want to play horde (space goat ftw).
ericknowles6175 Jun 15th 2010 11:00AM
It makes me very sad they r scraping path of titans. That was going to make that secondary proffession very apoealing. I think they probably just gotburdoned by it takng to long. It seems as though cataclysm will lose a little in that, and whats the point of leveling acheology now.
Also Im not going to beat a dead horse, but the DK was the first and it seems last Heroicclass, and I think that gives the mellee classes something else to tinker with, but if ur love is range or healing, ur outa luck. Again, just my opinion, but there it is
Sharee Jun 15th 2010 12:01PM
I was super excited for CoT: War of the Ancients as well. When talking to some guildies about what new CoT instance we would get in cata, I had just finished reading the book War of the Ancients. This made me automatically assume and hope that would be it, it ties in and maybe they will introduce Azshara as well. I really really really hope to see Brox and maybe Sargeras. I'm expecting SO much from this raid, don't let me down blizz!
Narthia Jun 15th 2010 8:07AM
The announced changes, paired with the class tree changes being more theorycrafting, all scream "we're running out of time up to release. Let's just go back to what worked before and hope the masses are pleased."
Antti Jun 15th 2010 9:47AM
Completely agreed.
The proposed alteration of "boring talents" (straight % increase talents) into rotation changing/fun talents were all complete BS. We see all those must have "boring talents" persist in the previews. I get its the beta, but they have yet too lift a finger.
I feel stupid for buying into the original hype of completely new talent trees and even the more extreme wow 2.0.
Touphemia Jun 15th 2010 12:02PM
Despite the downranking, I have to agree with these guys. Especially about the talents...so many of the flat DPS increases remain. I understand they have plenty of time to work but...there's a lot of work to be done.
jay Jun 15th 2010 8:08AM
War of the Ancients is a 10/25 man raid right?
Alas I will have to overcome my aversion to guilds and raid leaders to see this one.
nieboh Jun 15th 2010 8:13AM
I'm a little disappointed with some of the announcements like the scrapping of the path of the titans. That sounded really cool. Some of the other ideas they tossed out I'm a little concerned about. Not so much because the features are being scrapped but because I worry over the reason they were scrapped. I hope it's not a matter of "this is taking too long to get straight, let's scrap it so we can release sooner."
uncaringbear Jun 15th 2010 8:42AM
Blizzard used to be one of those companies that would always say 'It'll be released when it's ready', but in the Activision age, you can be assured that they will not miss their launch deadline under any circumstance. The launch date was set in stone ages ago, and barring an asteroid hitting Earth, it will be delivered on time.
Luci Jun 15th 2010 9:09AM
I'm not going to say that some of these changes were brought about by time limitations because I don't know. It could be that they just couldn't get them to work the way they intended. However, I do agree when I see concern expressed over the Activision side of things. I love Blizzard and their design philosophy and I hope that corporate greed never changes them. I grow concerned with all these extra things that just leech and leech money and then when I think about them maybe rushing deadlines.....
This isn't a hate statement or QQ though, just my thoughts. We have seen some things to raise concern, but we have also seen soooo many countless good things that have greatly improved the game. I still pay for it, I still love it, so I don't have any expressions of hate at this point in time.
Portals Jun 15th 2010 9:34AM
It could just be that what we thought was a cool idea actually got a 'eww that sucks' from the alpha testers. Also, it seems lately that they want to keep things as simplistic and smooth as possible.
Methuus Jun 15th 2010 10:08AM
This is a pure guess on my part, but for Path of the Titans, I bet Bliz just couldn't figure out a way to make it "interesting".
By that I mean that there is no point adding in yet another game system where you just grind out to max then make the choices that the theorycrafters on a website say are optimal. That's not fun for the players.
Right from when it was announced, you could see that Path of the Titans was going to be a real challenge to make both fun and provide interesting choices.
And for Path, after, I'm sure, many design iterations, Bliz just couldn't figure out how to make it fun and not just another grind-then-min/max system.
SamLowry Jun 15th 2010 3:38PM
So, originally, they said to those who were upset about the addition of a mere 5 levels that they were going to throw in a lot of new features...which are now being removed?
Do I sense pressure from Activision to kick this out the door, done or not?
cmichaelcooper Jun 15th 2010 8:13AM
I'm mostly ambivalent about the changes so far, although I'm a little disappointed about the removal of Path of the Titans. Like others, I'm afraid that the Cataclysm that promised change and growth is going to turn into the Cataclysm that is the same old thing in a new shinier package.
Fletch Jun 15th 2010 8:22AM
I have to say I was looking forward to the new Path of the Titans feature and as such am greatly disappointed that it has been dropped/replaced with something that is nothing more than cosmetic. Whilst this may be good for those who are really interested in the lore of the game, I have never really been overly interested in that side nor am I someone who has ever been driven to aquire vanity pets and such. It may be true that this would have just become something else to min/max, but as somebody that likes tinkering around with talents and such I am greatly disappointed by this loss, and to a lesser extent the simplification of the stat system.
I'm not entirely sure I'm in favour of the raid lockout changes either. Time will tell, but I can easily see this sounding a death knell for the 25 man raids. Overall, my enthusiasm for this next expansion has become somewhat muted.
Sleutel Jun 15th 2010 8:51AM
25-man will drop more gear per raid member than 10. With both runs on a single lockout now, gearing up will take a lot longer, unless they drastically increase the amount of gear that's dropping from what it is now. That, I think, will be the biggest impetus to running 25s versus 10s.
infinityv Jun 15th 2010 8:22AM
I think that the changes which make glyphs permanently added to the toon kills off a market and is a poor choice.
Kamshad Jun 15th 2010 8:23AM
At first I was a little disappointed about the loss of Path of the Titans, but what looks good on paper isn't necessarily gonna be good in practice. Seeing as how nobody had truly experienced it, it could have very well turned out to be just another mandatory grind for every character at level 85, something that we would all be complaining about in a year from now.
I'm just going to stick with the priniciple that Blizzard knows more, and Blizzard knows best.
uncaringbear Jun 15th 2010 8:37AM
It's not just Blizzard. It's also their shareholders wanting them to use their budget on revenue generating ideas instead of 'throwing it away' addressing balancing issues.
Hmmm, spend XYZ dollars to make more star pony projects or spend the same amount to fix the multitude of problems that would inevitably arise from something like Path of Titans?